The British electoral system, 1885-1970

Historical Research

Volumn 73, Issue 181, 2000, Pages 156-174

  Catterall, Peter ^a  

^a Institute of Contemporary British History

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EID: 61149288602     PISSN: 09503471     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1468-2281.00101     Document Type: Article

References (100)

1. Public Record Office, PREM 11/865, R J. Whittick to P. G. Oates, 2 Feb. 1953.
2. At least not until the Plant and Jenkins Commissions of the 1990s.
3. P. R. O. , PREM 4/81/5 part I, especially Beaverbrook to Churchill, 24 Nov. 1944: 'Solthers vote for the man who leads them to victory';
4. P. R. O. , PREM 4/81/15 part II, James Stuart to Churchill, 6 Oct. 1942.
5. Discussed in a complementary piece by the author in Reforming the Constitution: Debates in 20th-century Britain, ed. P. Catterall, U. Jordan and W. Kaiser (forthcoming).
6. See Report of the Independent Commission on the Voting System [Cm. 4090], 1998.
7. Report of the Royal Commission appointed to enquire into Electoral Systems [Cd. 5163], 1910, p. 2.
8. Royal Commission, p. 13.
9. E. J. Feuchtwanger, 'Electoral systems: an Anglo-German comparison, 1867-1933', ante, lxv (1992) 195.
10. Proportional Representation Society 1st Annual Report 1885, p. 4.
11. McDougall Trust, Lakeman Library (henceforth McD. ), P. R. S. early documents, untitled memorandum c. 1885.
12. According to P. R. S. Report for the Year 1906, p. 7, although the number of unopposed returns makes it difficult to be categorical about such matters for 19th-century elections.
13. See especially Adversary Politics and Electoral Rejorm, ed. S. E. Finer (1975).
14. P. R. S. 1st Annual Report 1885, p. 5.
15. Pall Mall Gazette, 30 Jan. 1884.
16. P. R. S. 1st Annual Report 1885, p. 8.
17. Quoted in J. Hart, Proportional Representation: Critics of the British Electoral System, 1820-1045 (Oxford, 1992), p. 114.
18. J. D. Fair, British Interparty Conferences: a Study of the Procedure of Conciliation in British Politics, 1867-1921 (Oxford, 1980), pp. 48-9.
19. Feuchtwanger, p. 196.
20. Hart, p. 184. He gradually changed his views in the 1920s.
21. It had also been proposed for larger constituencies in 1867 but was defeated by 314 to 173 (Royal Commission, p. 12).
22. As Sidney Webb emphasized in 1931 (Hart, p. 243).
23. Though events in the 1930s, for instance, such as Labour's expulsions of dissidents like the Socialist League and control of lists of approved candidates, or local disciplining of anti-appeaser M. P. S in the Conservative party, might suggest how limited this could be.
24. Quoted in McD. , Memoranda on Electoral Reform 1916-52, 'The case for proportional representation as presented in the house of lords', p. 3.
25. Q. Hogg, Lord Hailsham, Elective Dictatorship (1976)
26. and The Dilemma of Democracy: Diagnosis and Prescription (1978).
27. Lord Courtney of Penwith, quoted in McD. , Memoranda on Electoral Reform 1916-52, 'Case for proportional representation', p. 4.
28. L. Barrow and I. Bullock, Democratic Ideas and the British Labour Movement, 1880-1914 (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 17, 166-7, 277.
29. Electoral Reform Society, 1884-1984: the Best System. An Account of its 1st 100 Years (1984), p. 9; Hart, pp. 155, 166.
30. P. R. O. , PREM 11/865, 'Aspects of policy to which reconsideration might be given on the following lines in the light of the need to attract the Liberal vote', 12 Apr. 1950, p. 1.
31. See, e. g. Hansard Soc. , Parliamentary Reform, 1933-60: a Survey of Suggested Reforms (1961).
32. See especially The Globe, 31 March 1917.
33. The Best System, p. 19.
34. McD. , P. R. S. early documents, Electoral Reform Society, Memorandum to the 1965 Speaker's Conference on Electoral Reform, pp. 6, 12.
35. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , dxxv, cols. 1599-1602, 26 March 1954.
36. Royal Commission, p. 9.
37. Hart, p. 162.
38. See McD. , Memoranda on Operation of A. V. , Enid Lakeman to Emrys Roberts M. P. , 25 Feb. 1948.
39. P. R. O. , PREM 1/81, Lord Craigmyle to MacDonald, 19 July 1930;
40. F. A. Newsam to E. M. Watson, 15 July 1929.
41. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , ccliii, col. 106, 2 June 1931.
42. This was not borne out by experience in New Zealand, where it was briefly tried at the turn of the century.
43. Daily Citizen, 30 Jan. 1914.
44. Hart, p. 189;
45. see also Labour Party Conference Report, 26 June 1918, p. 21.
46. McD. , Memoranda on Electoral Reform, 'Memorandum on a redistribution of seats and equitable representation', 13 June 1916. This begins, 'Until recently it did not seem that anything in the nature of electoral reform or of a redistribution of parliamentary seats during the continuance of the war was conceivable'.
47. See P. R. O. , CAB 37/1 17 (80), 'Reconstitution of the Second Chamber', Nov. 1913.
48. Hart, pp. 170-5.
49. Royal Commission, pp. 28, 36, After prolonged debate the P. C. P. R. decided 011 26 Feb. 1914 to favour a system of allowing members to choose sub-divisions of the constituency based on their order in the poll, where by-elections could take place on an A. V. basis if necessary (McD. , Minutes of the P. C. P. R).
50. London Liberal Federation, The Case against Proportional Representation (1917), pp. 4-5. I am grateful to Vernon Bogdanor for this reference.
51. See M. Pugh, Electoral Reform in Peace and War, 1906-18 (1978), pp. 154f. ;
52. Hart, pp. 178f. ;
53. McD. , Memoranda on Electoral Reform 1916-52, passim.
54. Indeed, the Conservative whip was applied against the scheme (see papers of the 2nd earl of Selborne, Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Selborne 87, Selborne to Younger, 11 June 1918).
55. See V. Bodganor, The People and the Party System (Cambridge, 1981), p. 128;
56. McD. , Minutes of the P. C. P. R. , 27 March 1917.
57. Hart, pp. 172-4, 200-11.
58. Fair Representation and Government (P. R. Pamphlet 81, May 1937), p. 18.
59. McD. , Memoranda on the operation of A. V. , Enid Lakeman to Donald Johnson M. P. , 12 May 1964: 'few people worry about strong government at the Town Hall'.
60. D. E. Butler, The Electoral System in Britain, 1918-51 (Oxford, 1953), pp. 46-7.
61. McD. , Minutes of the P. C. P. R. , 6 Apr. 1921.
62. Parliament and Electoral Reform (P. R. Pamphlet 70, May 1930), p. 6.
63. McD. , Memoranda on Electoral Reform 1916-52, circular c. 1924 by A. P. R. C.
64. And Cabinet members such as Lord Parmoor, J. R. Clynes and Philip Snowden were vice presidents of the P. R. S.
65. Butler, pp. 44-5;
66. Hart, p. 221.
67. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , ccliii, col. 45, 2 June 1931.
68. P. R. O. , PREM 1/81, MacDonald to Ullswater, 16 July 1929, 25 July 1929. Ullswater, as J. W. Lowther, had chaired the 1916-17 Speaker's Conference.
69. McD. , Memoranda on operation of A. V. , 'The electoral reform bill' (c. 1931), p. 5.
70. Conference on Electoral Reform [Cmd. 3636], 1929-30, p. 6.
71. Conservative Research Department papers, Bodl. Libr. (hereafter C. R. D. ), 1/72/1, H. Brooke, 'Proportional representation', 17 Dec. 1935, p. 2.
72. Hart, pp. 238-9;
73. Butler, pp. 63-8.
74. Lord Plant (Chairman), Report of the Working Party on Electoral Systems (1993).
75. CRD. 1/72/1, Brooke, p. 9.
76. This had clearly been forgotten in the Conservative party after the Second World War (see CRD. 3/21/1, 'An outline of Liberal policy', p. 30).
77. Parliamentary Government and Proportional Representation (P. R. Pamphlet 74, May 1933), pp. 2-5, 10, 16.
78. Quoted in A New Speaker's Conference on Electoral Reform (P. R. Pamphlet 87, June 1942), p. 11. 80 P. R. O. , PREM 4/81/5, part II, Attlee to Churchill, 22 Dec. 1943;
79. National Unity and Reconstruction (P. R Pamphlet 88, June 1943), p. 3.
80. Conference on Electoral Reform and Redistribution of Seats [Cmd. 6534], 1943-4, p. 8.
81. And only 18 members supported a subsequent amendment in favour of S. T. V. on 10 Oct. 1944.
82. P. R. O. , PREM 11/865, Attlee to Davies, 23 March 1950.
83. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , cdlxxii, col. 143, 7 March 1950.
84. P. R. O. , PREM 11/865, Bonham Carter to Churchill, 3 Sept. 1952.
85. See also P. R. O. , CAB 128/26, Cabinet Conclusions 6(53)2, 3 Feb. 1953.
86. Daily Mail, 29 May 1935;
87. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , cclii, col. 96, 2 June 1931.
88. P. R. O. , PREM 11/865, Butler to Churchill, 28 Jan. 1933;
89. see also D. E. Butler, The British General Election of 1951 (1952), p. 277.
90. P. R. O. , PREM 11/865, Buchan-Hepburn to Churchill, 19 Feb. 1953;
91. Butler to Churchill, 20 Feb. 1953.
92. A deputation was courteously received in Feb. 1955, but nothing more (see P. R. O. , CAB 129/ 74, C(ss)75, Home Secretary, 'Electoral reform', 19 March 1955).
93. See P. R. O. , PREM 11/4754, PREM 13/877.
94. Conference on Electoral Law [Cmnd. 3202], 1966-7, p. 5. Hart, pp. 278-9.
95. Interview, Lord Holme of Cheltenham, 1 July 1996. And the Liberals continued to favour a mixed scheme of S. T. V. in large towns and A. V. elsewhere until they decided in 1965 to support a universal S. T. V. system.
96. Memorandum to the 1965 Speaker's Conference, p. 8.
97. C. R. D. 1/72/1, Brooke, p. 4.
98. House of Commons Debates, 5th ser. , dxxxi, col. 234, 27 July 1954.
99. CRD. 1/72/1, Brooke, p. 4.
100. C. R. D. 2/53/17, 'Proportional representation' (rev. Nov. 1955), p. 10.